This article presents an original puzzle that supports students' development of visual thinking and geometry ideas based on the Van Hiele levels of geometric thought. The "Triangle Puzzle" is one of many tools teachers can use to guide students' learning of geometry. The Van Hiele's theory provides a way to assess and support this…

This article presents a reflection on a teaching experience involving the use of the Brügner tangram, an interesting but little-known manipulative material. It details an activity conducted as part of an undergraduate mathematics education course for prospective primary school teachers. The main objective of this paper is to present the…

This book focuses on the potential contributions of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for enhancing mathematics education. It includes rationales for an AI-oriented pedagogical model, such as interdisciplinarity and even sensitivity to crucial world issues, such as climate change. The chapters in this book highlight what the new age of mathematics…

The recent increase in the number of mathematics museums has given rise to a need for tools with which to design and assess mathematics educational proposals in this non-formal context. This study proposes the use of the van Hiele model, a benchmark in mathematics instruction, for the design of interactive museum models focusing on mathematics…

An interesting Sangaku problem was chosen and a multidirectional study was performed, which included finding the locus of a circle's center moving while being tangent to two circles. It also included finding the radius of that circle given the datum that it is also tangent to the side of an isosceles triangle. Two different proofs are presented of…

Math is increasingly recognized as a critical part of what young children are exposed to and learn in early childhood programs. Geometry is one of three focal areas emphasized for early childhood, and opportunities for geometry learning are present in many manipulatives present in early childhood classrooms. Yet geometry remains an understudied…

One of Gardner's passions was to introduce puzzles into the classroom. From this point of view, polyomino dissections are an excellent topic. They require little background, provide training in geometric visualization, and mostly they are fun. In this article, we put together a large collection of such puzzles, introduce a new approach in solving…

The aim of this study was to determine whether Van Hiele's 5 phase-based tangrams activities could help to foster creativity among Grade Three primary school students. Students' creativity was investigated in terms of Torrance's Figural Test of creative thinking: Fluency, Originality, Elaboration, Abstractness of title, and Resistance to a…

Two studies investigated the effects of a storytelling-context for teaching geometry skills to kindergarten girls and boys. In Study 1, the story+geometry intervention consisted of an adventure story teaching geometry through part-whole-relations puzzles. Learning was assessed through transfer of skills, using a pre-/post design comparing…

Hexaflexagons (or flexagons) have a magic that has enthralled some of the greatest minds for over half a century. Their name comes from "flexible hexagon", which is the form in which they were first discovered by their inventor, Arthur Stone, an English graduate student at Princeton in 1939. In this article, the author talks about using flexagons…

In this article, the author describes a 200-year-old ladder problem that can carry learners to high levels of mathematical thinking and activity. This problem requires learners to go from a word problem to an equation to a graph and from there to a solution. As this problem of specifics is turned into a problem using variables, technology,…

Explores a variety of approaches to solving one geometry problem illustrating the work of teachers, the flow of their ideas, and the diverse areas of mathematics they applied. (KHR)

Rich and stimulating instruction in geometry can be provided through playful activities with mosaics such as pattern blocks or design tiles. Presents an intriguing mosaic puzzle to describe activities at various developmental levels and how the activities can help develop children's geometric thinking. (ASK)

This module utilizes hole punching with a pencil, paper folding, rubber band stretching, and unique board models to "picture" key geometric concepts in an intuitive manner. The module is virtually self-contained, except for common classroom items which are scissors and a protractor. The introductory lesson allows for a variety of approaches for…

Geometry should be a frequent and familiar part of the elementary school mathematics curriculum. Exercises to help children master basic terminology and visualize shapes and geometric relationships are described. They range from a "shape bag," which teaches simple identification of figures, to more complex activities involving polyominoes and…